While Myanmar’s junta leaders enjoy a lavish lifestyle, an internal military report suggests more than 1,000 soldiers are deserting every month.

A slow response to the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis has laid bare the junta’s internal problems and angered the population.

The winds of Cyclone Nargis have exposed the rotting core of Myanmar’s vast military, the nation’s strongest institution. With much of the world focusing on the death and devastation wrought by last month’s cyclone with its 190km/h winds and tidal waves, the wider impact on the ruling powers is only gradually becoming apparent.

Well-placed Myanmese sources and foreign diplomats inside the country now describe a once-proud military facing a spiralling desertion rate, a slow and over-complex command structure and festering doubts about its claim to legitimacy – problems brought into sharp focus by the challenges posed by the storm, the world’s worst natural disaster since the Asian tsunami of 2004…….

A former head of the CIA said Tuesday that Russian hacking of US political groups is intended to "mess with our heads" and shake confidence in the American electoral system -- rather than influence the outcome on Election Day.